soil at the consulate in benghazi. the date was 9/11. >> chris stevens embodied the best of america. he built bridges across oceans of cultures and deeply invested in the international cooperation that the united nations represents. today, we must reafell our future will be determined by people like chris stevens and not by his killer. >>shepard: the attack came during a spike in anti-american violence in north africa some in response to the amateur anti-islam video that marked mohammed. the president today said the u.s. government had nothing to do with the video and condemned the backlash. he defended the constitution from protecting the trite practice free speech. >> americans have fought and died around the globe to protect the right of all people to express their views, even views we disagree with. we do fault do so because we support hateful speech but because our founders understood without such protection the capacity of each individual expressed their own views and practiced their own faith could be threatened